Why do we Celebrate Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a holiday that Americans celebrate every last Thursday of November. This holiday can be compared to that of the Catholic’s celebration of Christmas, although it has a much bigger celebration in the country. It is a time where families bond together, and share in a festive mood with lots of food on the table. You may have always been present during these gatherings for as long as you remember, but do you actually know why they are celebrated?

Back in 1608, some English people decided to go to the Netherlands to seek their own church. They were pilgrims ‘š thus they were always travelling ‘š but they soon realized that their children are learning the ways of the foreign places they stayed in, and were losing their own sense of identity. Thus, in 1620, they decided to go on a voyage aboard the Mayflower. The vessel’s 103 passengers reached the United States of America at Cape Cod, specifically in Plymouth.

The pilgrims settled there and started anew. However, these moments had become the hardest for them because of the winter season. When the snow had stopped falling, only 56 had survived ‘š the others had died from infection and other diseases. They started to do some labor in the fields, and were able to befriend their native Indian neighbors who traded with them.

In the fall of 1621, they were able to reap their first harvest, the products of all their hard work, perseverance and sacrifices. With the proclamation of their governor, William Bradford, they allotted a day in which they are able to thank and praise God for all the help that He had given them.

The 1st day of November in 1777 was the very first National Thanksgiving Proclamation, by order of the Congress. In 1795, US President George Washington proclaimed every 19th of February to be Thanksgiving Day. Finally, it was Abraham Lincoln who made it official, back in 1863, that Thanksgiving Day would be celebrated every fourth Thursday of November.